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Believe confirms first step completed towards IPO on Paris stock exchange

By | Published on Monday 10 May 2021

Believe

Music distributor and artist services business Believe has confirmed that it has now completed the first step towards its long-expected Initial Public Offering in its home country of France. The French securities regulator AMF has approved a registration document which, the independent music company says, “constitutes the first step of a contemplated IPO on the regulated market of Euronext Paris”.

Originally founded in 2005, Believe has become a significant player in digital music distribution. Like many distributors, it has also diversified its offering and client base over the years, working with both labels and artists, in some cases offering basic distribution and in other cases pretty much all the services of a traditional label. It also has some labels within the group.

It also became a significant player on the DIY distribution side when it acquired US-based TuneCore in 2015. With TuneCore as part of the businesses, the company now works with artists at pretty much every level, from simple DIY distribution through to something more like a conventional label relationship.

In a statement this morning, Believe said that it intends to raise around 500 million euros through the contemplated IPO, using the new cash to finance a growth strategy that involves building “the leading global artist digital development platform, by continuing to invest to broaden its global footprint, pursue its disciplined external growth strategy and enhance and expand existing capabilities through investments in its technological platform”.

Founder and CEO Denis Ladegaillerie added: “In the last decade, streaming has changed how people discover music, paving the way for the rise of independent artists and labels. Believe is ideally positioned at the core of this transformation with a unique model to provide solutions best adapted to meet the evolving needs of each independent artist and label, at all levels of development, in the digital world. Believe has the technological platform, the global reach and the people on the ground to be at the forefront of this new cycle”.

“Believe’s corporate social responsibility strategy centred around respectful, fair and transparent talent development is at the heart of our ambition to become the best and most value-added partner for artists and labels in the digital world”, he went on. “This IPO project would enable us to accelerate our development and continue to pursue our profitable growth trajectory while achieving our mission to help build a better, more diverse, more respectful, more transparent and fairer future for all artists”.

The completion of the IPO, Believe also added in its statement this morning, is now “subject to the approval of the prospectus relating to the offering by the AMF, as well as favourable market conditions”.



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